How To Open A Pomegranate

(I've posted this before, but think it's appropriate for the season!)





Pomegranates and I have a love/hate relationship. I love their delicious, tart taste, but I hate them because it's not even worth it to spend five hours trying to get three seeds out, staining my hands and clothes all at the same time. I haven't eaten one in years because they're impossible to eat.

Well my friends, what if I told you that you could get every single seed out of a pom in about six minutes total? Yeah, yeah, I didn't believe it either. BUT IT'S TRUE! You can. A while ago my dear friend Annie e-mailed me some amazing instructions on how to eat a pomegranate. It looked neat, but I never got around to trying it. You know how that goes.

So last week my mom called me in a frenzy. She said that she got a bag of poms and decided to give it a try. She said that it was the most amazing thing! By the end of the instructions she literally had an entire bowl of pomegranate seeds! I didn't really believe how easy (and satisfying) she said it was, but I was glad that she was so excited.

While we were at the grocery store a few days ago Matt mentioned that we should try it. We found the beautiful ruby fruits and bought a couple. I let them sit in the fridge for a couple days, and finally decided that today was the day. Without any other help besides the instructions to follow, I succeeded with the procedure, and OH WAS I SATISFIED! I tool pictures along the way so I could show you. Take a lookie:

1. Cut off the flowery bit at the end so it’s flush with the rest of the fruit.



2. Get yourself a bowl and fill it with cold or tepid water, whichever you prefer (it should be enough water to cover the pomegranate).

3. With a sharp knife, score the outside of the fruit into about 4-8 sections. You’ll need to go about 1/4 of an inch deep to get through the skin. You may also just want to simply cut it into sections, but I find it damages the seeds and gets juice everywhere.



4. Once scored, place the pomegranate in the bowl of water and leave it for about 5 minutes.



5. When the 5 minutes is up, start separating the fruit into sections while it’s submerged in water. While submerged, you’re less likely to get juice squirting out everywhere, unless your into that sort of thing.



6. Now, separate the arils (the red seed casings) by rolling them out from internal white supporting suff. This is the cool part: the seeds are heavy and will drop to the bottom while all the white stuff will float to the top. (do this under the water too...I just brought it out for the picture).



7. Remove the white stuff floating at the top and then strain the off the water.





8. This is what you'll end up with from ONE Pomegranate! (yes, the bowl is almost completely filled!)



Thanks Annie! ENJOY!